Posted by: JPEG June 2, 2009
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Kirat Ni Beauty taken in 1890.
The Kirat community is counted among the world's ancient communities. The mention of it can be found in the Rig Veda too. The Kirats had created their own civilised society before the Aryans reached Sapta Sindhu, and was ruled by their leader Shambar. But after losing all their territories, in the 40 years of long war, they headed in search of new lands. According to Early Races of Mankind by Sir John Hammerton, Vol. I, page 434, when the Aryans came to India for the first time and started to advance towards the hilly regions, they had to fight against a Kirat-Ashur king whose kingdom was situated on the bank of river Indus in the Himalayas. His name was Shamba Ashur. He was defeated in the battle, so he left his place and came towards the east and established a stronghold in the Kinner land which is now known by the name of Himachal Pradesh in India. In this place, a horde of Mongolian people came and intermingled with this stock of Kirat people and constituted one big Kirat race. Gradually they spread towards the east and resided in the Himalayan region of Nepal, Sikkim and India. They usually speak in Tibeto-Burman language style as that of Newar, Magar, Gurung, Murmi, *Sunar, Lepcha and Toto and also in the style spoken in East Nepal by Dhimal, Thami, Limbu, Yakkha, Khambu and Hayu.
The Kirats' lifestyle and their cultural activities are all governed by Mundhum. Mundhum is the folk- literature of the Kirats' and is one of the world's most beautiful epic, which has been passed from time immemorial through verbal tradition. In Mundhum, the knowledge of the universe received by their forefathers, the beginning of life on earth, the heroic deeds of their forefathers as human, and their extraordinary works as above human, have been stored.
Points to be taken: * "The Kirat are mentioned in Indian epic drama such as the Mahabharata. According to Nepalese traditions, they occupied the Kathamndu Valley(Nepal) before the
Licchavi dynastry just prior to and during the years of the Chraistian era (Regmi 1969: 54-64). Nowadays the ethnic groups going by this name live in eastern part of Nepal: the Rais, Limbus, and Yakhas. The Sunuwars also claim to be Kirat. Shafer has shown that the Sunuwar dialect closely resemblences certain Rai dialiect (Shafer: 1953: 356-374). A large number of Sunuwars, when living in the capital or in India, abandoned their Sunuwar name for that of Kirat, as many people believe that they belong to the polluted "occupational caste" of the goldsmiths (Sunar) (see Mcdonald 1970:146, fn.23)" ~ Himalayan Anthropology, Page 174 By James F. Fisher
The Kirat community is counted among the world's ancient communities. The mention of it can be found in the Rig Veda too. The Kirats had created their own civilised society before the Aryans reached Sapta Sindhu, and was ruled by their leader Shambar. But after losing all their territories, in the 40 years of long war, they headed in search of new lands. According to Early Races of Mankind by Sir John Hammerton, Vol. I, page 434, when the Aryans came to India for the first time and started to advance towards the hilly regions, they had to fight against a Kirat-Ashur king whose kingdom was situated on the bank of river Indus in the Himalayas. His name was Shamba Ashur. He was defeated in the battle, so he left his place and came towards the east and established a stronghold in the Kinner land which is now known by the name of Himachal Pradesh in India. In this place, a horde of Mongolian people came and intermingled with this stock of Kirat people and constituted one big Kirat race. Gradually they spread towards the east and resided in the Himalayan region of Nepal, Sikkim and India. They usually speak in Tibeto-Burman language style as that of Newar, Magar, Gurung, Murmi, *Sunar, Lepcha and Toto and also in the style spoken in East Nepal by Dhimal, Thami, Limbu, Yakkha, Khambu and Hayu.
The Kirats' lifestyle and their cultural activities are all governed by Mundhum. Mundhum is the folk- literature of the Kirats' and is one of the world's most beautiful epic, which has been passed from time immemorial through verbal tradition. In Mundhum, the knowledge of the universe received by their forefathers, the beginning of life on earth, the heroic deeds of their forefathers as human, and their extraordinary works as above human, have been stored.
Points to be taken: * "The Kirat are mentioned in Indian epic drama such as the Mahabharata. According to Nepalese traditions, they occupied the Kathamndu Valley(Nepal) before the
Licchavi dynastry just prior to and during the years of the Chraistian era (Regmi 1969: 54-64). Nowadays the ethnic groups going by this name live in eastern part of Nepal: the Rais, Limbus, and Yakhas. The Sunuwars also claim to be Kirat. Shafer has shown that the Sunuwar dialect closely resemblences certain Rai dialiect (Shafer: 1953: 356-374). A large number of Sunuwars, when living in the capital or in India, abandoned their Sunuwar name for that of Kirat, as many people believe that they belong to the polluted "occupational caste" of the goldsmiths (Sunar) (see Mcdonald 1970:146, fn.23)" ~ Himalayan Anthropology, Page 174 By James F. Fisher